Did you ever think about the fact that God had been silent
on some important matters for many years in the lives of Joseph and Jacob? Neither of these men knew the truth about the
other for all the years Jacob served Potiphar, was in prison, and now for the
nine years of plenty and famine. The Lord
allowed them to live without knowledge and with their false narratives for many
years before bringing them back to one another.
Only when Jacob goes to Beersheba and offers sacrifices there on his way
to Egypt does he hear from the Lord on the matter. When they go down, Joseph makes a decision to
separate his family from the Egyptians by settling them in the land of
Goshen. His instructions to them are
that when Pharaoh asks what they do they are to tell them they are shepherds
and this will further isolate them from the pagan nation. Joseph, without directly saying so, is
preserving the remnant spiritually as well as physically. He apparently never gave up on God even
though he had no other Yahweh worshipper with him in all this time.
As they return from the mission to go, heal, and proclaim,
Jesus sees the disciples need a break. His
desire is for them all to go away to a "desolate place", somewhere
apart, where they can rest, talk and process all they have just seen and done. Instead, people see them, recognize them, and
run ahead of them and arrive before the disciples get there. The press of ministry is sometimes
never-ending. Jesus sees the crowd and
has compassion on them, recognizes they are hungry for that which is real food
and begins teaching them. At the end of the
day the disciples beg Him to send them away for this is a desolate place with
nothing to eat there. Jesus' response is
to say, "You give them something to eat." They have just done miraculous things at His
command but this is too much, they don't have enough money and even if they
did, there is no place to buy food.
Jesus reveals that even though they have done miracles their faith isn't
complete and He feeds them all. Oh,
that's what He meant.
Perhaps it is that the church at Corinth questions Paul's
apostleship because he has refused their patronage. He defends his rights both to make an
independent living and also to be supported by the church. More than either of these options, however,
he defends his freedom to choose which of these two courses of action is
appropriate for him. Frequently that is
truly the issue in church leadership, we have our freedom circumscribed by
others. Is someone a lesser pastor if
they are bi-vocational than if they are fully supported by the church? Paul's status seems to be in question because
he has refused to make use of his rights as apostle to receive support from the
local church. The church may need soon
to re-evaluate such things and it may need to see if professionalism is right
or not. Perhaps we have become more like
the world in that regard. I don't know
the answer to that question, but I do know we are quickly approaching a time
when we may see change.
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